Setlist 1-25-09 – Communion Service

**Part 2 for this week of Sunday Setlists over at FredMcKinnon.com…**

Wow… it’s been a long day, but a wonderful one! 4 solid hours on your feet does tend to make a person a bit tired…

We had our communion service tonight, and overall it was a good one.

I’ll post the song list, then go into descriptions…

• Grace Like Rain [Am] (Todd Agnew)
• Indescribable [Bm] (Laura Story – Tomlin Version)
• Intro to Communion
• Lead Me to the Cross [D] (Brooke Fraser)
• You Gave Your Life Away [E] (Kathryn Scott/Paul Baloche – KS version)
• Rescue [A] (Desperation Band)
• How Great Is Our God [F] (Chris Tomlin)
• How Great Thou Art (chorus only) [F]
• Guided Prayer
• Blessed Be Your Name [G] (Matt/Beth Redman)
• God of Wonders [C] (Mark Byrd/Steve Hindalong)

This is my favorite of our services. It is a solid hour of time spent just worshiping… people are encouraged to sit, stand, kneel… however they feel most comfortable at that moment to express their emotions to God.

We started the evening already “into” the worship “feel” with Grace Like Rain. It hadn’t even occurred to me that we ended this morning with Amazing Grace until we started rehearsing the set this afternoon… but it worked pretty well! God’s Grace is certainly something that we need to remember to thank Him for! We then moved straight into Indescribable, which is one of those songs that just reaches waaaay in for me. there are those that are getting tired of it, but there are so many that it is still speaking to so strongly.

We then broke concentration for a few moments to welcome everyone a little more and to expain how the service would flow for those that were new (and to remind the rest of us since we didn’t have this service last month). Larry shared some thoughts on a Memorial or Remembrance and how communion fits within those paramiters on occasion, and some thoughts on how this affected his approach this weekend.

Then Pastor Chris & I led Lead Me To The Cross (changing it up a bit by using the keyboard instead of the guitar – totally different song!) so the rest of the team could spend time praying and taking communion. The next group leading slowly filtered up & got into place to lead “You Gave Your Life Away” so Chris & I could also have the chance to partake. They did a great job their first time leading!

Everyone managed to filter up by the end of the song and we led Rescue followed by How Great is Our God with the chorus to How Great Thou Art tacked onto the end.

All of these songs have such a powerful message, especially when coupled with the atmosphere that surrounds the Lord’s Table. We had the words on the screen in case people wanted to sing along, or just to reflect on them while they prayed. Everyone had taken communion by the last song, so I asked them to stand with us while we sang. It was wonderful to see people raising their hands, closing their eyes, and just crying out to God! In our hectic day-to-day lives it is so easy to forget to set aside that time to spend at the foot of His cross just worshiping.

Then we had 10 minutes of guided prayer… This morning we had everyone write down the name of a person or a few people that they wanted us to pray for. We handed these out while Larry explained that we would spend the next 5 minutes praying for the name(s) on the cards and the needs of our body. It was powerful to have 5 minutes of corporate yet silent prayer. Then we took 5 minutes to pray for our country – our new elected officials, our military personnel, our government.

We finished up with Blessed Be Your Name and God of Wonders – a nice reminder that no matter what is going on in our country – or the world – God is right there beside us and He is bigger than anything this world can throw at Him.

All in all, a pretty great evening! Definitely a worthwhile way to spend a few hours… I can’t wait for next month!

There is something truly special about gathering with a larger group of believers in intimate worship – something that just isn’t captured in personal, private worship or even on most Sunday mornings. We are so often coming off of a hectic week, trying to make sure everything is just right, and “sticking to the schedule” that we don’t get to that deeper, more intimate place. I’m trying to figure out how to change that, but the Sunday mornings that I put together a set like this service had… well, people complain that it wasn’t “upbeat” enough. It’s something that I am struggling with – how to draw people into that intimacy with God on a Sunday morning when you only have 20 minutes to do it in – and they are coming in cold. Any suggestions?

Anyway, have a great week everyone!